Oh Crap, She's Four
by See Jane Write
Summary: Buffy is turned into a four year old...Finished.
1. Prologue

Oh Crap, She's Four Disclaimer: I do not own the characters or the places mentioned. I am not taking credit for making them up 'cause I didn't make them up. Joss and all those other writer people made the characters up. I did not. So there you have it. These aren't my characters. If they were my characters, I doubt that they'd be acting *this* crazy.  
  
Prologue  
Buffy Summers sighed, walking through Restfield Cemetery, stake clutched tightly in her right hand, ready for any vampire or demon to come up from behind her. Ready for the action that would come along with fighting of evil fiends night after night. Normally, doing things like this would calm her down some, help her blow off extra steam in her that had been building up all day. But not this night.  
This night there were quiet, a little too quiet for Sunnydale, California. So quiet that it was bordering on scary. And not the 'Something's Out To Get Me' type of scary. That was something that Buffy had gotten used to during her five and half years or so of being a Vampire Slayer. This was different.  
She didn't know why it was different. She would have thought there would be more chaos. It was getting closer to springtime and that usually was when Sunnydale held its annual end of the world party, usually inviting powerful vampires or big, evil demons, or even the occasional robot thing or whatever Adam had been. It didn't exactly matter, all of the evil things have been stopped, due to her. She had gotten used to stopping it, it was part of her job.  
But then again 'job' wouldn't exactly be the term to describe it. The word 'job' tends to imply that one gets paid for the work one does, which, sadly, in Buffy's case is far from true. The more appropriate term she would have to say would be 'calling', 'destiny', or 'fate'. Something along those lines, since she could never get out of it unless she died, which probably would not be the best thing to do, since that would leave all slaying to Faith. And Faith is still in jail and will be there for another couple of years.  
She sighed, wondering how on Earth she could stop Glory, the hell goddess that had been stirring up trouble for a couple months now. She didn't have any ideas and the fact that every time she and Glory had faced eachother Glory had always won didn't help boost Buffy's self confidence. All the ways she knew to fight evil she had tried on Glory, but obviously none of them were working. The only thing she hadn't tried was blowing Glory up, but she guessed that Glory was too slick for something like that to happen.  
The Scoobies were back at the Magic Box, presumably, finding out more information. That was the way things had been when Buffy had left them. She guessed that Giles was still sitting down on the stool in front of the cash register with some huge, ancient demon text or prophecy thing in front of him as he read on, wiping his glasses every now and then, an occasional 'Oh, dear Lord' slipping out of his mouth. Tara and Willow were probably sitting at the table, spell books open in front of them as they quickly leafed through them, looking for a spell that might weaken Glory or something. And Xander and Anya were probably there as well, Anya counting the money she and Giles had made once more while Xander jokes around with Dawn, opting to watch her instead of doing any research whatsoever.  
Buffy sighed again, getting ready to call it a night. She had already been out for nearly an hour and had seen no demons and no vampires. It was just that eerie silence following her throughout the night. The only sound she could hear at all being the snapping sound of a stick here and there as she continued her way through the cemetery.  
She stopped suddenly as she heard something, coming up from behind her. The sound of heavy boots hitting little sticks and the occasional leaf on the ground was only drawing closer to her. Once again ready for action, Buffy turned around quickly to face her attacker, her stake held out in front of her as though inviting whatever it was to come to its quick but painful death.  
Or not.  
"Gah!" she called out in a startled tone of voice as she glared at the blonde vampire in front of her. "Spike, what are you doing here?" she asked irritably, putting her stake back in the pocket of her leather coat. Not really caring about the answer, she turned around on the heal of her shoe as she began walking back towards the entrance of the cemetery, knowing it wouldn't be too long until she made her way to the street, ready to go home.  
Spike shrugged as he ran a little bit to catch up with the Slayer. "Passing by," he told her, though he didn't exactly think it was her business. "Saw you and figured you could use a little bit of help, since I don't see the wicked witches around," he lied as he gestured around the cemetery at the lack of people there, only tombstones. "And certainly not the Enormous Hall Monitor," he added. He stopped, tilting his head up slightly as he thought about something for a second. "Oh yea, he's run off," he added as though he had just recalled the fact, just to make Buffy mad.  
Buffy raised a thin eyebrow at him, her arms folded across her chest. "Really?" she asked doubtfully as she once again began walking away. It was getting late and if the Scooby Gang was doing as much research as she hoped they were doing, then they wouldn't notice that it was time for them to get Dawn home, since being a Monday, it was a school night and Dawn did have to go.  
"The reception on the bloody telly isn't comin' in right," Spike finally admitted with a sigh as he ran, jumping in front of Buffy, preventing her from going any further.  
"Ahh, so that's all then," Buffy said. "Whatever." She sighed as she tried to make her way past Spike, pushing him and shoving him, but nothing she could do was working on him. "What do you want?" she asked impatiently.  
Spike tossed his arms out in front of him with a small groaning noise, moving out of the way. Could he admit that what he really wanted was for her to come home with him and make him happy? No. And since that was the only thing on his mind, he realized that there was nothing else for him to do. He knew that Buffy knew his feelings for her, and was just choosing to ignore them, but what could he do about it. Nothing. "Nothing," he said, turning around, heading the opposite way, going back to his crypt.  
Buffy sighed, rolling her eyes as she continued making her way home. She smiled, turning onto Revello Drive, knowing that she was almost home. She had forgotten about the Magic Box, but figured that one of the Scoobies, probably Anya since she would want to get home to have sex with Xander, would notice that it was late, causing Giles to close up the Magic Box for the night and drive Dawn home. From there Willow, Tara, or Giles would stay with the youngest Summers girl until Buffy returned from her patrol. Buffy's thoughts were interrupted as a sharp pain erupted from the back of her head, like no other kind of physical pain she had felt before.  
A little tiny noise of pain escaped from Buffy's mouth as the pain grew worse. She looked around the street, behind her and in front, searching for someone who could have hit her with something.  
She frowned, seeing no one in sight. Thanking everything she had that Spike was not there to see her like this, Buffy fainted, her head hitting the concrete sidewalk hard.  
  
Willow Rosenberg looked out the window expectantly for the millionth time that evening. "Where is she?" Willow asked, turning to Tara Maclay and Rupert Giles for an answer. The worried look had been on her face since ten thirty that night. "I'm really worried about her."  
Tara placed her hand on Willow's arm comfortingly. "She'll be ok, Willow," Tara assured her girlfriend. "I promise," she added.  
"I hope so," Willow said, turning over to look at Giles. "What's taking her so long? She never used to take this long? We should be out there looking for her." As Willow was talking, the panic in her voice was escalating to a point where Willow was near hyperventilating.  
"Breathe!" Giles commanded the young witch, walking over to her and placing his hand on her shoulder. "I assure you that Buffy will be just fine, but if you don't start breathing, then you will not be as fine."  
Willow nodded slowly, taking a deep breath to calm herself. She sighed, looking up at Giles. "Is that a promise?" she asked, the fear for her friend's safety still lingering in her voice.  
Giles nodded confidently. "I promise," he told her. "Buffy will come home and she will be all right," he assured the redheaded girl. He sighed, walking out to the kitchen to make himself a cup of tea. "Anyone want anything?" he called into the living room.  
There was a general chorus of "No, thank you"s coming from the room, started by Willow and followed shortly after by Tara. Giles sighed and began heating up the water on Buffy's stove.  
Willow sighed as she began pacing back and forth in the room. "Where is she?" she asked for the thousandth time that hour. She hadn't been asking anyone in particular, but both Tara and Giles had been rushing to assure her that Buffy would be fine. She was the Slayer and could take care of herself in a fight. Before Tara could answer her, the front door handle began to turn and the door slowly opened.  
"Thank god, Buffy, we were so worried!" Willow exclaimed, running over to the door as fast as she could, Giles meeting up with her in the hallway the two of them standing there, waiting for the door to open all the way. Waiting for Buffy to walk in safe and sound, with some information about something or the other.  
But that didn't happen. Nothing on Earth, or any other demon dimension for that matter, could have prepared them for what they were about to see.  
In walked Xander and Anya, each of them with one of Buffy's arms draped over their shoulders. The Slayer was apparently unconscious and it looked like she had been that way for at least half an hour. "We found Buffy," Xander announced exhaustedly as he made his way a little further inside, allowing Anya to be all the way in the house as she pushed the door shut with her foot.  
"Is she alive?" Willow immediately blurted out in response to the horrid sight, the panic once again present in her voice. She stopped herself, drawing in a deep breath before coming to her senses a little. Buffy was in fact breathing, which would tend to mean that she is alive.  
"What happened?" Tara asked in confusion as she joined up with the rest of the Scoobies in the hallway. "Is she going to be alright?" she asked, her eyes wide with concern, one hand going up to her mouth, which was wide open in shock.  
Xander sighed, turning to face Anya. "Help me get her to the couch," he commanded her gently. His girlfriend nodded as the two of them slowly made their way over to the soft- cushioned couch. With Giles's help, they lowered Buffy carefully onto the couch without waking her up.  
"W-what happened?" Tara repeated slowly, moving into the living room, Willow right behind her. She stood uncomfortable in the doorway of the room, nervously shifting her weight back and forth, not knowing exactly what she should be saying or doing at a time like this.  
Xander shrugged as he slouched down on one of the chairs. "I don't know. We were driving home after closing up the Magic Box and decided to stop by. We found her lying on the sidewalk about three houses down from here."  
Willow's green eyes were wide. "Wow," she stated in anxiety, looking down at her unconscious best friend. She sighed, trying to think of what they should do. She bent over, picking Buffy's head up a little. "She hit her head," the witch stated, looking up at all the Scoobies concerned and worried faces.  
Dawn tiptoed down the stairs, moving as quietly as a cat would while sneaking up on a mouse, avoiding being seen until the moment when it makes its move. The stair creaked beneath her weight, and she stopped sudden, her face growing white with fear as she though for sure someone had heard that noise. When no one was replying, she continued down the stairs, successfully, since no one had noticed her presence there yet.  
"What are you doing up this late?" Giles called into the hallway. He knew that he wasn't Dawn's legal guardian, that was Buffy. But Dawn shouldn't be up at this hour, especially on a school night. "You're supposed to be in bed." He sighed, turning to the Key, waiting for an answer.  
Dawn sighed, walking into the living room, standing in the doorway to the left of Tara. "I was in bed," she stated bluntly. She glared at all the Scoobies around the room. "But some one woke me up," she stated angrily. Her frowns turned to a smile a second later. "And since I'm up, I might as well stay up!" she announced happily, walking over and sitting down by Willow's feet as the witch continued examining Buffy, making sure that there was no other serious injuries on her body.  
Giles shook his head. "I don't think so," he told the fourteen- year- old girl honestly. He pointed at the stairs. "Go back to bed," he commanded gently.  
Dawn made a face, but did stand up. She frowned, her eyes landing on her unconscious older sister on the couch. "What's wrong with her?" she asked, sounding a little worried. She had already lost her mother about a month ago. She didn't need to loose her sister as well.  
Willow sighed, placing a small zip lock bag with a few ice cubes in it under Buffy's head. She didn't know if the Slayer actually was in pain, but she figured it couldn't hurt anything. She sighed, resting Buffy's head down on top of the ice as Anya put a red, wool blanket on top of Buffy, covering almost all of Buffy's petite body with it.  
Willow sighed, turning to Dawn. "We don't know what happened," she told the young girl honestly. She sighed, taking in a deep breath. "Xander and Anya found her like that," she added, in case the young girl might find the information useful.  
Dawn frowned, turning her gaze over at the Xander, now with Anya resting in his lap, the look on her face hinting that she was tired. Dawn wasn't stupid though; she figured it was just the crazy ex-demon's way of telling Xander that she was horny and wanted to go have sex. Dawn rolled her eyes at the thought before turning over to Xander. "What happened?" she demanded.  
Xander sighed. "I only know what you know Dawnie," he told her honestly. He wanted desperately to console the girl, tell her that things would be alright, but then that would be lying. He didn't want to lie to Dawn. The best thing for him to do would be to just keep his mouth shut and hope that Giles could get Dawn up to bed.  
Anya yawned, shaking her head as she forced herself to stay awake for a few more minutes. She didn't know if she could do it, but she would try. "She probably just ran into Glory again. She's not powerful enough to take her out yet," Anya suggested, her eyes growing heavier with each second. The more she forced herself to keep them open, the heavier they would get. Finally, Anya gave up, her head resting against Xander's soft shoulder, soft sighs in her sleep escaping her mouth.  
"See there?" Giles began, gesturing at Anya with his left hand. "That is what you should be doing," he informed Dawn. "Buffy will be fine in the morning, ok. Now get some sleep."  
Dawn sighed reluctantly. "Fine," she grumbled, heading up the stairs, stomping as she hit each one of them.  
Xander sighed, looking down at his sleeping girlfriend. "Ok," he said, standing up carefully, as to keep her from waking up. He carefully moved her so that she was in his arms. "This would be my cue to go home and get some sleep," he whispered, motioning for Willow to get the door for him. He turned, looking around the room at Giles, Tara, and Willow. "Good luck with research on the bad guys. See ya tomorrow," he told them, heading out the door, slowly and carefully as to not wake Anya up.  
  
Willow sighed, looking over at Tara, various demon books spread out in front of them. Giles had told them not to bother looking for the demon, since he didn't even know if there was a demon to be looking for. But he had also told the witches to stay with Buffy and Dawn for the night to see what - if anything- was wrong with Buffy.  
Tara sighed, closing one of the demon books shut. She had been in charge of looking up demons who might want to come to Sunnydale to have a big Hellmouth party. Which pretty much meant any demon possible, with the possible exception of Gachnar, since he was kind of little to do anything. "Willow?" she called, getting her girlfriend's attention.  
"Yea?" Willow asked, looking over at Tara again. "You feeling tired?" she asked, moving a little closer to Tara, wrapping her slender arm around her girlfriend's body in a comforting gesture.  
Tara shook her head. "No, no, not at all," she exclaimed. "It's just, are we even sure if it's a demon we're looking for? 'Cause I mean, this could be anything. Demon, vampire, minion thing of Glory's, the l- list goes on and on."  
Willow nodded understandingly. "You're right," she said, kissing Tara's forehead. The two of them smiled happily at eachother for a second before turning back to research.  
Willow sighed, walking over to the couch, over to Buffy. She sighed again, moving the blanket so it wasn't covering Buffy's head. She gasped, looking at the couch at what she saw, rubbing her eyes twice to make sure that what she was seeing was real.  
A young girl was there on the couch, lying there peacefully as she continued on in her slumber, visions of sugar plums probably dancing through her mind. Long, golden blonde curls flowed down her back gracefully before they were joined together in a huge knot a little above her waist. The clothes she had on vaguely resembled a younger child's version of the outfit Buffy had been sporting earlier consisting of a gray sweatshirt and a pair of light blue jeans  
The girl's eyes opened slowly, revealing their color to be hazel. She smiled widely, looking up at Willow, admiring the witch's red hair in wonder and awe. "Can we trade hairs?" she asked excitedly as she tried to imagine what she would look like with red hair. She giggled at the thought before once again looking up at Willow. "What's your name?" she asked.  
Willow smiled, looking down at the girl, shocked at how cute she was while at the same time wondering who she was. If it was in any way possible for her to be Buffy. She hadn't remembered the pictures Buffy had shown her from when she had been growing up, which would probably be of use right about then. "I'm Willow," she introduced as she extended her right hand out for the girl she presumed to be Buffy to shake.  
The girl laughed, cutting Willow off. "That's a funny name!" she said as she launched into a fit of laughter like little children tend to do.  
Willow frowned, a little hurt, but she tried to keep it from getting to her. "That's not very nice," she informed the girl.  
The youngster shrugged. "Sorry," she apologized, though from the way she said it, Willow was guessing that she didn't really mean it. She giggled again, leaping up from the couch as she began jumping up and down happily.  
Willow shrugged it off. "And that's Tara," she said, pointing over at Tara, who smiled and waved at the girl, giving a quick "Hello". Willow sighed, looking back at the girl, groaning as she tried to stop her from jumping, but failing. "What's your name?" she asked curiously.  
The girl smiled, stopping for a second so she could catch her breath. "My name's Buffy!" she announced before going back to her jumping.  
Willow frowned. "Oh crap," she muttered under her breath. 


	2. Chapter One

Chapter One

Disclaimer: I refuse to accept responsibility for making up these characters. I give Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, etc, the legal right and claim to them since they made them up.

Willow sighed, looking at the young blond girl in front of her. The four year old had gotten bored with just sitting there and was beginning to run around the house, looking for a towel or a blanket or something to tie around her neck so she could be "Super Buffy". She smiled widely, her arms sticking out like she was an airplane, making little airplane noises as she ran around the room.

Tara frowned, glancing over at Buffy. She sighed, turning to Willow slowly, a helpless expression plastered on her youthful face. "How are we supposed to get out of this?" she asked, her voice hinting that she was worried something bad might happen to Buffy because of it.

Willow gave Tara a shrug in response, not knowing what else she could do. Nothing like this had ever happened before. "I'll call Giles, but She sighed, walking into the kitchen, carefully as she tried to avoid accidentally bumping into the hyperactive Slayer running around the house. Considering that Buffy still was the Slayer, that is.

She frowned again, wanting to keep the information about vampires and demons away from Buffy for as long as she could, if such a thing was possible. It would be too much for a four- year- old girl to handle. Sometimes she still wondered if she was even ready to handle it. Sure, she had been growing up with it for years, but still. It was weird and no matter how much experience she gets with it, she will never fully be used to it.

The redhead sighed, reaching for the white cordless phone on the kitchen counter, pausing for a brief moment as she recalled Giles's number. As her fingers lightly touched the number buttons, she felt someone tugging on the end of her shirt. Looking down, she groaned quietly to herself as to not upset the girl. "What is it, Buffy?" she asked, her tone of voice semi-impatient.

A huge smile overcame Buffy's face as she looked up to the witch with wide eyes, doing her best impersonation of puppy dog eyes, but failing horribly. "I want ice cream," she demanded clearly, pointing at the humming freezer on the other side of the seemingly large room.

Willow sighed deeply, growing very annoyed with the young Slayer. Giving a mental sigh of relief as she heard Giles's English accent greet her, all of Willow's attention was focused on the conversation. Well, she tried to keep it that way, but obviously it wouldn't work. She sighed once more, placing the phone so that it was balanced between her head and shoulder while she tried her best to calm Buffy down. "Giles, we kinda have ourselves a problem," she told the Watcher, though she was almost certain that Giles would have figured that out since she had woken him up at one in the morning.

Giles gasped, various thoughts of vampire attacks and demons that might be at Buffy's house racing to his mind. "What is it?" he asked while trying to keep his tone of voice calm.

Willow exhaled slowly, mentally picturing Dawn's room in case a Dr. Suess book would be in there so that Tara could read it to Buffy, in effort to calm her down. She knew that Dawn had outgrown those, but they might still be around. And if they weren't, Tara and herself were looking at about thirty minutes of sleep that night, if that.

"Willow?" Giles's voice asked through the phone, causing the witch to jump up, startled.

"Oh, sorry," she apologized lamely, her focus going back on the conversation. "Giles, Buffy's kinda four years old now," she began to explain, her gaze drifting into the other room as Tara was trying to calm Buffy down by playing various hand- clapping games quietly with her, as to not wake up Dawn.

"Oh dear Lord!" Giles exclaimed loudly, nearly dropping the phone in shock. He clutched it tightly in his left hand as to make sure that he wouldn't do it again. He sighed, drawing in a deep breath. "Are you sure?

Willow nodded, peering into the other room cautiously as to make sure that Buffy did not see her. She sighed, turning her attention back to Giles. "I'm positive, Giles," she assured him. She sighed again, remembering what had happened before. "We were just trying to figure out what might have knocked her out. We walk over to look at her and she was just four. Like magic.

She sighed again, looking over at Buffy once more. "And she thinks that she has been four forever. Willow frowned, thinking that her statement made absolutely no sense whatsoever. "I mean, not forever, but she's acting like a regular four- year- old," she stated before she was distracted by someone tugging at the bottom of her shirt once again. She sighed, sounding a little annoyed, which she thought was understandable. "Yes Buffy?" she asked, looking down at the little girl.

Buffy smiled up at Willow, her young face filled with anticipation and excitement. "Are you on the phone with Uncle John? 'Cause I want Celia to come over an' play with me. She began jumping up and down excitedly, looking around the room happily.

A long groan escaped from Willow's mouth as the witch felt herself sinking to the floor, her bottom resting along the ground, her back still up against the wall. She stretched her legs out slowly, wondering how much energy a four- year- old has. It was unfair, seeing someone this hyper at this hour of the night. Or, technically morning, but still. Whatever it was, it was late and Willow was growing very tired, her eyes just wanting to give in and remain shut.

Buffy was bouncing with excitement as she looked down at Willow, her eyes filled with eagerness and anticipation. "Well, can Celia come over?" she begged as she grabbed hold of Willow's left hand, attempting to pull the witch up to the ground. She groaned, looking down at the witch, finding she couldn't move her more than a few inches off of the ground. "You're cheating!" she yelled at Willow as she dropped the witch's hand. She stuck her tongue out at Willow before turning around and running joyfully into the living room to be with Tara.

Willow sighed again, turning her attention back to Giles. "So...yea," she began tiredly, a yawn escaping from her mouth. She frowned, knowing that there was nothing on the earth that could keep her awake for much longer. She would fall asleep if Giles had anything important to say, which definitely would not be good seeing as the man was much smarter than she was and could get them lots of information.

"Giles," she began again, resisting the urge to let another yawn out since doing so would definitely cause her to fall asleep. "If you can't tell, I'm really tired so could we just talk about this in the morning?" she asked, her tone of voice practically begging the Watcher to do such, her eyes already closing.

Giles sighed. "Oh, yes, of course," he told Willow honestly, trying not to let a yawn out himself. With that being said, the English man hung up his phone and tried to fall back asleep. Finding that he could not do something like that with the information he now knew, the Watcher decided to go over to his large bookshelf, in search of any demon group or vampire that might want Buffy to be four years old once more.

"Can Celia come over an' play?" Buffy asked once more as she ran back into the kitchen, over to the freezer. Clearly she was not going to rest until she knew that her cousin would be over there in the very near future. She giggled as she pulled the freezer door open, scanning its contents in search of chocolate ice cream.

Though she knew it would be wrong, the only solution to the problem that sprang to Willow's mind would be for her to somehow magickally make the ice cream invisible, there was even any in the freezer. Hating herself for sinking that low, Willow quickly blurted out the Latin word under her breath, hoping that Buffy hadn't spotted the ice cream before that and that she didn't hear her.

"Where's my ice cream?" Buffy demanded at the top of her lungs, angrily turning around to face Willow, her thin arms crossing her chest as she stamped her foot against the linoleum of the kitchen floor. Her hazel eyes narrowed in anger, focusing on the witch. "Want ice cream!" she stated between clenched teeth. "Want it now!" she yelled as Willow ran over to her, covering the girl's mouth with her right hand as her left hand went to the girl's shoulder. She knelt down so the two of them could look at eye level and faced the younger version of her best friend.

"Why can't I have ice cream?" Buffy whimpered, her bottom lip trembling a little as large tears filled her eyes. She turned her head away from Willow, not wanting anything to do with the witch anymore. She broke free from Willow's comforting hug, running into the living room, into Tara's open arms, short but loud cries escaping her mouth as she cried into Tara's shoulder.

Tara patted Buffy on the back gently, her hand moving in slow, circular motions on Buffy's upper back. She sighed deeply, looking over at the doorway and, more importantly, at Willow. She didn't know what the two of them were supposed to do, but she knew that she couldn't stay awake much longer and something had to be done about Buffy. They could not just leave her there in her sobbing misery. Plus, she was four, so she would most definitely cause trouble if left unattended for even one minute.

But, lucky for the witches, Buffy's eyes were growing heavier. A few seconds later, Tara looked down at the Slayer, picking her head up gently while checking if she was really asleep. The girl's eyes were closed, and small snoring sounds could be heard coming from her mouth.

A sigh of relief shot out from both of the witches' mouths at the same time. Not wanting to risk any chance, however small it may be, that the Slayer might wake up, Tara just covered Buffy with the large blanket from earlier. Once that was done, she and Willow tiptoed upstairs, collapsing down on Joyce's suddenly very soft and inviting bed. Within instants after that, they were out, peacefully sleeping the way they would have normally been hours ago.

"You're late," Anya informed Giles as the sound of the bell on the Magic Box rang, announcing the Watcher's presence. Her voice was harsh as she glared at her boss, arms folding over her chest in anger. Giles hadn't exactly said it earlier, but he had hinted before that he didn't quite think she could handle the Magic Box alone. A smile came over her angered face as she took Giles's tardiness as a sign of his trust in her. But, nonetheless, he should never have done it. "What took you so long?" she asked curiously as she sat down on the stool behind the cash register.

"I'm aware that I am late, Anya," the English man managed to say with a yawn. His outfit was the same suit he had been wearing the day earlier, only with more wrinkles on the stripped shirt. Large, dirty volumes of demon texts were positioned underneath his arm as he tried to support them up while walking down to the table, slamming the two books down with a large banging sound.

Xander jumped up in shock, small crumbs of jelly donut flying out of his mouth. "G-man, you can't do that," he blurted out in his shock as he could sense that the man was glaring at him.

Sitting down across from Xander, Giles groaned. "How many times do I have to tell you not to call me that?" he asked, his tone of voice matching Anya's from earlier. "And the answer to your question," he continued, turning his head in the general direction of the cash register, "is about to walk through that door.

Before Anya could even question the Watcher on his words, the door opened slowly, ringing the little bell as three people walked inside. The first thing Anya noticed was Willow's hair. Sure, it was still red the way it had been the day before, but that was the only familiar part of it. The hair itself was going in fifty thousand different directions at once, held up by a little child's hair clips. Anya couldn't see them exactly, but they looked like little horses or possibly Care Bears.

Right beside Willow was Tara, though she was barely recognizable behind the enormous bags of stuff that came from Toys ÔR Us. The exact number of bags could not be determined, but there had to be at least three of them, possibly even four.

Finally, emerging out from behind the sleepy couple, was a young girl, barely over the age of four. Her blond hair, though it had been neatly combed in the morning, was now a chaotic disaster. Over half of it was pulled out of the two hair bands that had once been holding it into pigtails. The girl looked around the store nervously at first, stuffing her hands into the pockets of her jeans that Willow had miraculously dug out from Dawn's closet before Buffy had woken up. Unfortunately, the only shirt they could find was still three sizes too big for the girl.

Buffy looked cautiously around the room as she clung to Tara's right leg tightly with her left arm. A large teddy bear was stuffed under her right arm, and she pulled it up to shield herself so no one else would see her face. She gave a few quick tugs to Tara's shirt, getting the witch's attention.

"What is it Buffy?" Tara asked as she bent down onto one knee, with one hand going onto Buffy's shoulder comfortingly. With one look at the girl's frightened face, she knew what was going on. "Shh, Buffy," she began in a soft, comforting tone of voice. "It's ok. These people are friends o-of mine. They won't hurt you.

Buffy gave a quick nod in response before peering out into the store once more, gathering up the courage inside of her to go and walk in a little further without Willow and Tara standing right there next to her. She smiled, taking two steps forward, and then another one back.

"Wait a sec," Xander began, leaning over in his seat to take a closer look at the child. Her blond hair, hazel eyes. He knew those eyes. Whether they belonged to a four-year-old or a twenty-year-old, he could tell that they were Buffy's. "ButÉthat can't be," he continued in confusion.

"Oh, but it is," Willow announced exhaustedly, her tired legs moving over to the table, where she plopped down next to Xander happily with a huge sigh.

Anya frowned, looking over at the Slayer, who had wrapped her arms around Tara's left leg, clinging to the witch tightly in uncertainty of where she was. "What did you do?" the ex-demon bluntly accused, turning to Willow expectantly for an answer.

"I didn't do anything- I swear!" Willow blurted out as she glared at Anya. She frowned for a second as she turned to Xander, giving him the ÔWhat do you see in her' look before continuing to prove herself innocent. "I mean, you guys were the one who found her; maybe you did this! All Tara and I did was look after her, see if she would wake up while doing research to see what was wrong. We did our jobs and nothing more than that, so" Willow paused for a second, once hearing the various Scoobies, with the exception of Buffy, telling her to breathe.

"It's not your fault," Xander assured his best friend as he shot Anya one of his ÔNot now' looks. He loved Anya to death, maybe even more, but she still had a thing or two to learn about tact and what right thing to say is verses what the wrong thing to say is. He sighed, turning back to Buffy. "So, welcome!" he greeted the girl.

With a triumphant smile present on her face, Buffy stormed over to the counter, standing quietly as she admired the rack of pendants sitting there. Her attention was focused on the green one in the middle, her young face lighting up with joy similar to that of a child who comes bouncing down the stairs on Christmas morning to find that Santa had bought them what they asked for. "I want it!" she added a minute later, looking up at Anya with her eyes wide with hope.

Reaching into the pockets of a very old coat that had once belonged to Willow, Buffy dug around until she found something precious to her. She pulled her dirt-covered hands out and extended them to the ex-demon. "I'll trade you all of these rocks an' this penny for it," she began excitedly as she stood on tiptoe so she could see over the counter.

Not knowing what to do, Anya looked nervously up at Giles, who was shaking his head Ôno' at her. She sighed, getting off of the stool and turning back down to Buffy, a sorrowful expression on her face. "I'm sorry honey, but these cost more money than you have there," she began honestly.

"But I want it!" Buffy screeched as she ran back behind the counter, glaring daggers at Anya. "Want it," she repeated, her fist pointed at the pendants.

Anya shrugged honestly as she backed away a little frightened. "I'm sorry," she began as she looked over once again at Giles, hoping that her boss would do something about the situation. When that attempt was failing, she turned her hopes to Xander and Willow, both of whom were lost in their own discussion about something or the other.

"Want it!" Buffy yelled again, louder this time, as she kicked Anya's lower left leg as hard as she possibly could, causing the ex-demon to fall backwards against the shelf. Luckily, nothing fragile was on it, but her short shriek of pain drew the attention of everyone in the room, Xander rushing over to his girlfriend as Willow followed, pulling Buffy back into the main part of the store.

With a disappointed look, Willow turned to the young Slayer, shaking her head as though she was trying to calm herself down a little. Also, she hoped that Giles would catch on and do something about the situation, since clearly she had no idea of what to do. Sure, Giles had never had any children on his own to Willow's knowledge, but still. He had been their school librarian, and also Buffy's Watcher, ergo scolding methods that might work on a four-year-old.

She glanced up at Giles once more, frowning when she saw that he was still lost in research or something like that. Which must have meant that nothing could distract him. If he were an animal, Willow would guess that he would be a watchdog or something similar to that. If Buffy's insistent "Want it"s as well as a few pained expressions coming from Anya as Xander helped her move over to the table could not distract him, Willow clearly could not decide what could.

"Buffy, why did you do that?" she asked tiredly. It was way too early in the morning to be dealing with the annoyance of having to discipline a child, especially since she and Tara have been watching the girl all night. She knew that Giles should be doing something about that, but he wasn't. He was too busy doing research, muttering "Oh dear Lord", and being Giles to even notice.

Buffy giggled as she ran over to the main entrance, picking up the largest of the three toy bags. She quickly began tossing its contents out onto the Magic Box floor. A wide smile appeared on her face once she had found the item she had been looking for. Happier than ever before, she ran over to Willow and Tara, shaking the Barbie doll while begging the two witches to open it.

"Open now Willow!" she commanded harshly, shoving the doll into Willow's open arms. Her hazel eyes narrowed as she glared at the redhead expectantly, waiting for her toy to be opened. When she found that the only response she was getting from the witch was a blank stare, she stuck out her tongue at her and yanked the doll from Willow, dragging it over and shoving it into Tara's arms. "Open!" she commanded sternly.

Tara sighed, picking up the small blond doll in her hands, wondering why something like that attracts so many little girls. If this is what they grew up thinking a woman had to look like, then things just wouldn't be right. She had her own opinions about a woman's body. Most of the time, she just kept them to herself, though if any one were to question her on them

Another sigh escaped the blond witch's mouth as she began opening the Mattel product. Such a pain it was. All this work just to make sure no one could possibly steal a small Barbie. Tara groaned in frustration as she struggled to open the doll. It was hard, and she had no idea what she was even doing. The bribe to use magick temped her, but she fought back, for both her sake and Willow's. Her doing spells for mundane things had gone wrong before; she wasn't about to let it happen again.

"Tara," the young blond girl began impatiently, "when am I going to have my Barbie? I wanna play with it. ÔCause I'm Super Buffy an' she's my Super Hero sidekick!" she exclaimed excitedly. She smiled, looking Tara in the eye in a serious manner. "Every super hero needs a side kick. I know 'cause I'm a superhero!"

Tara nodded sweetly at the young girl. "I'm sure you are," she responded in a caring tone of voice as she tried to wrestle the doll's feet free. She smiled proudly, handing the doll to Buffy after a moment. "Here you go."

"Thank you, Tara," Buffy thanked immediately, thought Tara had the feeling she was only speaking those words to avoid getting in trouble for forgetting her manners. But the young witch sighed it off. There were clearly other issues, more important issues, than Buffy's manners.

"THIS IS MY SIDEKICK NAMED POWER BARBIE!" Buffy screeched as she ran around the Magic Box, finally snapping Giles's attention.

"If only she had that much energy when she trained," Giles mused quietly before walking over to the table, pulling a seat up next to Willow.

"Any idea what's causing this?" Anya asked as she looked over at the former Watcher. "More importantly, any idea how we can fix this so I can run this store as a business, which would bring in more money?"

Xander smiled down at his girlfriend. "That's my girl," he whispered fondly.

"When Dawn comes home, the two of us c-could take Buffy to the park or something," Tara suggested.

"That's not for hours," Anya pouted. "Hours which could be money-making hours. Take her now."

"Anya," Xander began rather impatiently. "We talked about this. There are more important things than money."

Anya nodded enthusiastically. "There's also sex," she said. "Even better, sex with you," she said, tilting her head back to look up at Xander.

"Besides that, as well," Xander told her with a sigh. "But, back to the point, any idea what's causing it?" he asked, his face filling with concern as he turned back to Giles.

"So far, there is nothing I can think of," Giles began. "But there must be some logical explanation for all of this."

"BAD POWER BARBIE!" Buffy yelled from near the entrance as bumped into one of the displays, various scented candles spilling onto the floor and rolling off in all different directions. She looked up over at Willow. "She didn't mean to do it," Buffy began for her doll. "She just wanted to flyÉI tried to explain to her that only superheroes can fly, but she wouldn't listen!"

"Alright, what are we going to do with Buffy?" Xander asked as Tara walked over and began cleaning up the candle mess.

Giles frowned, his forehead wrinkling as he bit his lower lip trying to thin of a logical way to deal with Buffy while at the same time advancing the research. "Alright," he said moments later. "Xander, why don't you take her somewhere- I don't care where- for a little bit, hopefully let her burn some energy off. Anya, you stay here and manage the customers. Willow and Tara, you two help me with the research."

"Fair enough," Xander agreed as he stood up, kissing Anya's forehead before walking over to Buffy. "Hey there, you want to go to a park or something?"

"What park?" the young girl asked.

"A big park," Xander began. "One of the best parks you will go to in your life," he added, trying to jazz things up a bit. He knew the Sunnydale Park was not that great, but he had to work on something. Besides, to a four-year-old from Los Angeles, she might think Sunnydale Park was the best she had ever been to.

Buffy stopped, considering the notion for a minute. "Can Power Barbie come too?" she asked. I promise she won't try to fly as much."

Xander smiled at her. "Then Power Barbie can come," he said as he opened the door. "We'll be back," he called as he left, Buffy right behind him.

"And we'll be here," Willow called after him as she grabbed one of the books from the center of the table, Tara doing the same.

Hours had past before Xander came back with the sleeping Buffy held up in his arms. "We're back," he called as he entered the Magic Box. "Find anything?"

Willow groaned as she closed another book, tossing it aside with the dozens that had already been looked through. "Nothing," she said with a frown. "We've looked for everything, but there is nothing about changing the age of a Slayer."

"And no real reason on why," Tara added. "Because, as we've all seen, Buffy still has her super strength and she has more energy than ever before. She still is the Slayer."

"Maybe someone wants the Slayer dead?" Dawn suggested. She had immediately come to the Magic Box after school and was now up to date on the whole Buffy thing.

"Yes, but Buffy's not the only Slayer," Willow pointed out. "Faith is also" She stopped, cutting herself as she thought that over for a second. "Faith!" she yelled, rushing over to the phone, dialing the number for Angel's hotel.

Miles away from Sunnydale in Los Angeles, the jail guard on duty began searching through each of the cells, making sure no one had tried to escape. "Good, good," he muttered bitterly to himself as everyone was where they were supposed to be. "Hey, wait a minute," he said, going back to the last cell. He looked inside, finding a little girl, not possibly over the age of five. Her dark brown hair rolled down her slender body to a point between her shoulders and waist. The girl looked up at him with wide brown eyes, the look in them hinting at confusion. "Who are you?" the guard asked with a frown. __


	3. Chapter Two

Chapter Two

Disclaimer: Into every generation is born one who must write insane fan fiction using characters, places, etc. that belong to Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, and 20th Century Fox... cannot escape my destiny

"Hyperion Hotel, home of Angel Investigations where we help the helpless, Cordelia Chase speaking. How may I help you?" came the cheerful greeting from Angel's associate on the phone.

Willow had to literally bite her tongue to keep from groaning at the former cheerleader's inappropriate perkiness. "Cordelia, it's Willow," she said with a heavy sigh. "I need to talk to Angel. It's very important."

Cordelia frowned, glancing down at the pieces of paper in front of her. The pieces of paper on which her handwriting told her exactly where everyone was at the time. "Angel's in a meeting with a client right now," she began. "A paying client," she added with an emphasis on the word 'paying'. "Could I take a message?" she offered, blue ballpoint pen in hand.

"I need to talk to Angel," Willow demanded again as she kept a careful watch on the young Slayer. Buffy, now fully awake again, had somehow found someone's purse, presumably Dawn or Anya's because neither Willow nor Tara brought a purse that day and she highly doubted Giles or Xander would carry a clearly feminine purse around.

"I told you he's in a meeting right now, but I can have him call you as soon as he's done," Cordelia informed the witch.

"Cordelia!" Willow yelled. "This should have a little more of a priority here!"

"Need I point out the paying client factor again?" Cordelia asked.

Willow groaned. _So nothing has changed with her at all,_ she thought angrily to herself. "It's about Buffy," she said finally, hoping Cordelia was not too dense to remember how important the blond Slayer was to Angel.

From her end on the phone, Willow could hear Cordelia sighing. "Fine, I'll tell him you're on the line," she said before placing the phone carefully down on the desk and knocking on Angel's office door. "Angel, Willow's on the phone. It's about Buffy," she called through the closed wooden door.

Few noises of moving furniture could be heard as Angel was presumably walking over to the door. Sure enough, few moments later Angel emerged from his office. "What about Buffy?" he asked, his face filling with worry.

Cordelia shrugged. "I'm not really sure. Willow didn't say anything other than that it's important." With that, she walked over to her desk as she began going through all the invoice papers.

"Willow, it's Angel," Angel said as he grabbed the phone. "What it is? What happened? Is Buffy alright? Does she need my help?"

Willow sighed heavily, glancing over as Buffy began smearing pink lipstick all over her face. "I look pretty!" she declared proudly before slathering "Power Barbie" with the stuff as well.

"Well," Willow began. "Buffy's alive and she's medically alright. It's just"

"Just what?!" Angel asked.

"She got turned into a four year old. We're not sure how, none of Giles's books have anything about it. We were just wondering about Faith. Y'know, if whatever's happening to Buffy is happening to her too."

"Turned into a four-year-old?" Angel asked, raising an eyebrow. "Physically?"

"Yes," Willow affirmed seriously. "We're talking a little over three feet tall, somewhere between twenty-five and thirty-five pounds, really tiny feet that don't fit into anything we had around the house, the whole enchilada."

"Right," Angel responded, nodding as he comprehended the information. He sighed, remembering his client. "Cordelia!" he called, grabbing the attention of his associate. "Go and stay with Mr. Greene, please," he commanded as his tanned co-worker began walking over to his office. "So you think it might be happening to Faith?"

Willow nodded. "It's a high possibility. Could you just do us a favor and check?" she asked. "You don't have to come down here, just call."

Angel nodded as he wrote it down on the back of one of their business cards. "I'll get right on that," he promised before saying his good-byes and hanging up.

"Can I give you a makeover?" Buffy asked as she looked up at Willow, Anya's purse with all of its makeup contents wrapped around her thin arm. Willow smiled weakly, looking over at Tara and Dawn's "makeovers". Anya wisely was protesting and she sat on a stool behind the counter, ready for any last minute customers before the store would close at eight.

Willow shrugged, still sporting her hairdo courtesy of the young girl. What else did she have to loose? "Sure," she agreed. "Why not?"

"What'd Dead Boy say?" Xander asked without looking up from the book held in his lap. Although it said it was a demon book, Willow could tell that whenever Xander flipped the page, it wasn't the same book that was in his lap. Something was behind it.

"He said he'd look into it," Willow responded, looking curiously over at Xander. She frowned slightly as she walked over to her best friend. "What are you looking at?" she asked curiously.

"Nothing!" Xander immediately yelled as he slammed the book shut before glancing a quick glance at Anya, making sure she did not suspect anything. "Just a little surprise for her," he whispered quietly as he tilted his head at Anya. "For her, um, birthday," he lied, hoping that Willow would not catch onto it.

"Alright," Willow said with a slight hint of sadness and a shrug as she stood back up, walking over to where the very impatient Buffy was waiting to give Willow her new "makeover".

Buffy smiled happily as she began smearing lipstick all over Willow's willing face. "Now Willow looks pretty!" she announced proudly.

"What was that all about?" Cordelia asked irritably as she came out from Angel's office, her arms folded across her chest as an expression of her anger. After a few minutes, the client gave up and decided he would try and work it out with some one else. "That guy could have saved us from going broke!"

Angel sighed heavily. "Cordelia, we're not broke," he insisted strongly. "And it was about Buffy."

"Yea, I got that part! What made it so important that you couldn't spend time with the potential client?" Cordelia huffed.

"Buffy has been turned into a four-year-old," Angel replied calmly. "And you're going down to the jail with Wesley to see if the same thing happened to Faith."

"Me?" Cordelia asked with a frown. "Why me?"

Angel sighed, gesturing emphatically at the back door of the hotel with his left hand. "There still is a bit of light out there and I can't risk it!" He sighed heavily. "Plus I might be able to get that client back," he muttered slightly. "And I can't do that if I'm getting a little girl out of jail."

Cordelia squealed with excitement. "Alright, I'll go!" she yelled happily before running out of the hotel, grabbing Wesley by the arm as she passed him.

"Cordelia--" the former Watcher began in shock. "I beg your pardon, but what--"

"I'll explain on the way, Wes, but first we have to go to jail," Cordelia began as she rushed over to the door, grabbing the set of keys to her car as she ran out the door, dragging Wesley behind her.

Wesley looked over at Angel for one short moment before he found himself being pulled out of the hotel. "Cordelia!" he exclaimed loudly once reaching the outside. "What in God's name is going on here?"

"Faith," Cordelia exclaimed as she walked over to her car and got inside, opening the passenger door for Wesley.

"Faith escaped?" Wesley inquired curiously and fearfully.

Cordelia shook her head as she paced the key in the ignition and started up the car. "Faith might be a little younger than we thought."

"What do you mean?" Wesley frowned. "Faith is twenty, you know that."

Cordelia shook her head once more. "Sure, we all know when she was born and whatnot, but Angel thinks she might be younger."

"You're not making any sense."

Cordelia frowned as she rethought her choice of words. "Right," she began as she pondered on the perfect way to explain what was going. "Alright, over in Sunnydale, Buffy has been turned into a physical and emotional four-year-old. That's what Willow's call was all about," Cordelia started as she dodged one of the other cars on the road. She looked over at Wesley, seeing the former Watcher holding onto the side door as if his life depended on it. "Relax," she told him. "I know what I'm doing. Anyway, Angel and Willow think that whatever happened to Buffy might also be happening to our rouge Slayer so while he tries to convince the paying client to come back, we get to do the Faith-check."

"Cordelia, might I suggest that you let someone a little older perhaps take the wheel?" Wesley asked, not concentrating at all on the Faith news, but rather on Cordelia's dim driving skills.

"Would you relax already?" Cordelia asked with a small groan. "I'm not speeding and I'm staying in my lane. God, you're almost as bad as Xander Harris was when the two of us actually went out."

"Not speeding?" Wesley asked in shock. "You must be going at least ten miles above the speed limit!"

"Nope," Cordelia answered. "They raised it last year."

Wesley groaned, but he did relax a little bit. There were not that many people on the streets at this hour on a Monday evening. "Do they have any idea about what happened to Buffy?" he asked a moment later.

Once again, Cordelia shook her head. "All they know is that it happened. There was nothing in Giles's books about it. How many books can one man have?" she wondered.

"There are a few he does not have in his possession," Wesley said in an abnormally proud voice. I happen to have the only original edition of Farzin's Compendium in its full ancient Sumerian content," he added, much to Cordelia's boredom.

"And the ancient Sumerians know what about Slayers?" Cordelia asked impatiently.

Wesley frowned. "I suppose you're right," he began quietly. "Let's just get to the jail," he added.

Anya smiled triumphantly as she finished counting up the money on the receipts from that day's sales. "Giles, we made eight hundred thirty seven dollars today and eleven cents." A huge smile was plastered onto her slightly tanned face as she turned to the Watcher, who was also smiling.

"That's wonderful," he said.

"Can I have a raise?" she asked, her brown eyes widening slightly.

Giles smiled. "Sure," he announced as he heard his associate squeal with delight.

"Look," Tara whispered, the tacky make-up erased from her face as she tilted her head at the sleeping Buffy. "She's asleep."

"Thank goddess!" Willow exclaimed. "I mean, I love Buffy and all, but she has too much energy," she added exhaustedly.

Xander nodded, recalling the park trip that had him running all over the tiny park numerous times. "Here here," he said as he plopped down onto a chair near the table.

"Is she still the Slayer?" Dawn asked curiously as she glanced up from her geometry homework.

Giles nodded. "As far as I can see, yes," he began, although he did not sound entirely confident with the answer.

Anya rolled her eyes. "She most definitely is still the Slayer. I have the bruise mark to prove it."

"There, there," Giles said as he patted her back. He frowned, glancing around at his shop. More specifically, at all of Buffy's new toys around his shop. "When did she bring all those--" he began before Anya caught site of the toys.

"Someone pick those up! They're bad for business!" she screeched.

"We are closed now, Anya," Giles reminded her. "Business does not matter."

Anya frowned. "We may be closed, but people could still see through the windows and if they do not like what they see, then they might not want to come inside when we are open."

Xander smiled over at his girlfriend. As crazy as it might seem, she did have a point. "Ahn, it's alright. We can close the curtains then pick up her toys."

"Works good in theory," pointed out Willow from her position of being flopped over onto the table. "I don't think I can move." She frowned as she tried to pick up her arm. "As a matter of fact, I'm sure of it." Her face lit with excitement. "Maybe there's a spell we could--" she began before Tara cut her off.

"No!" Tara said firmly. "No spells. We can't always do them for the little things. It's not what magick is for. There are other options."

"But they involve getting up," Willow pointed out.

Tara smiled at Willow. "You rest, I'll get the toys," she said with a smile as she stood up, closed the blinds, and dutifully began picking up the various toys from Buffy.

"Any word from Dead Boy?" Xander asked again as he grabbed a few Barbie doll clothes from the floor.

Willow shook her head with a long sigh. "Nothing," she said, wondering whether or not that was a good thing. Did they really want to deal with another four-year-old Slayer? No. But, maybe they would not have to. If the two Slayers were both four, the Scoobies could look after Buffy while Angel and his investigation agency could take care of Faith. "Nothing at all."

"Man, how far away is the jail from his place?" Xander asked curiously.

"Well, it w-was still light outside when we called him. He might just now be getting a chance to leave," Tara pointed out calmly.

Willow smiled at her girlfriend adoringly once more. Leave it to Tara to have a level head on any situation. Except her use of too much magick. That was the one and only thing Willow knew that could send Tara over the edge.

"We'll hear from him soon," Willow added. "We have to."

"Her name is Fay and she's my niece," Cordelia begged the jail guard as she saw the little four-year-old version of Faith standing on the other side. "Please, let me take her."

The guard turned around to Faith and pointed at Cordelia. "Is this woman your aunt?" he asked with a long and heavy sigh. Cordelia frowned as she knew she had only a few precious seconds to think. She smiled, pulling a stick of gum out of her purse and holding it, mouthing 'You want this?' at the little girl in front of her.

Faith smiled, wildly nodding her head yes. "Yes!" she hollered as she tried to run out over to Cordelia. Cordelia smiled innocently at the guard as she tucked the gum back into her small black purse.

"That was low," Wesley whispered into her ear.

The guard sighed and opened the door between the two of them, little Faith running over to Cordelia's open arms. Her short little hand quickly made its way to the purse as she pulled the gum out and began chewing.

"Alright, here's what I need to know? How did you niece manage to end up behind bars this evening when I was checking the cells?" the guard asked angrily.

"Just my wacky sister," Cordelia said with a long sigh. "She's a little out there so she would put her daughter in her place. Little Fay must have gotten loose when we tried to visit this morning," Cordelia said with a fake laugh as she placed an arm around Faith. "But you won't do that anymore, right?" she asked, looking down at Faith.

The little girl nodded slightly, looking oddly up at Cordelia. "I'm not supposed to take candy from strangers," she said with a frown.

"What was that?" the guard asked.

Cordelia shrugged as she and Wesley began to leave, Faith following right behind them. "Where we going?" the little girl asked as she tried to blow a bubble, but ended up spitting the gum out onto the sidewalk accidentally. "Oops," she whispered softly. "Can I have more?" she asked, looking up at Cordelia with wide brown eyes.

Cordelia shrugged as she pulled another piece of gum out of her purse and handed it to the eager four year old. "Shoot!" Cordelia yelled as she approached her car. She would have chosen a more inappropriate word, but she did have a very impressionable child in front of her. If the girl had heard anything inappropriate from her mouth, Cordelia was sure that Angel and/or Wesley would kill her. Or they would wish they could since she was too valuable for them to kill.

"What?" Wesley asked curiously.

"Wesley, we have a child under sixty pounds without a car seat," Cordelia pointed out with a groan. "What are we supposed to do?"

Wesley frowned. "I'd suppose we have to buy one," he said with a frown. "We're far too far and it's far too dark to walk back to the hotel."

Cordelia frowned as she began walking along the street in desperate search of a store that would sell her a car seat. "Angel better reimburse us for this," she muttered.

"I'm sure he will," Wesley said with a sigh as he followed Cordelia, holding Faith's hand.

Cordelia stopped suddenly, coming towards the store they were looking for. "In there," she commanded as she handed Wesley her wallet.

"I beg your pardon," Wesley began doubtfully as he looked down at her wallet.

"I beg your pardon," Faith repeated before bursting into a fit of giggles.

Cordelia groaned again. "You go in there and pick out the cheapest car seat you can find," she commanded. "I'm going to call Willow and then I'll meet you inside."

"So the wallet's for"Wesley began.

"Just in case you finish up before I do," Cordelia said. "It's not a shopping spree for you. I know exactly how much money I have in there," she informed Wesley with a sigh.

Wesley sighed heavily. "I'm sure you do," he said with a sigh as he walked into the store, Faith right behind him.

"Candy!" the four year old demanded strongly as soon as she walked in.

Cordelia breathed a huge sigh of relief. She was unsure how Willow had been putting up with little Buffy for the past day or so. She had only had Faith for ten minutes and already she wished she were dead or something.

She sighed, whipping out her cell phone and dialing the number for the Magic Box. The phone ring once, then twice before someone answered it. "Hello, Magic Box," came the feminine reply.

Cordelia frowned as she tried to identify the speaker. It was not Willow or Buffy. She had heard the voice before. "Anya?" she finally asked in shock. "Hey, it's Cordelia."

"Hey," Anya replied back. "Any word on--"

"She's four all right," Cordelia responded before Anya could even finish her question. "How do you put up with it? I've only had her for about ten minutes and already I wish I was off somewhere else."

Anya frowned. "I don't know. Xander and Willow had her most of the day. I just ran the store."

Cordelia smiled slightly before peeking inside the store to see how Wesley was doing in there. "Any luck on finding out what's causing it yet?" she asked.

Anya sighed and shook her head. "Nothing. Or, at least, nothing that anyone's saying." She sighed as she placed an ice pack on her leg once again. "But Cordelia, be careful. Faith still has Slayer strength. Well, Buffy does, so one would assume Faith would too."

Cordelia nodded understandingly. "Right," she said as she heard Faith run into something in the store. "Well, I better get going," she began.

"Me too," Anya responded. "Bye," the ex-demon added before she hung up.

Cordelia sighed rolling her eyes as she ran into the store. "I am so sorry!" she said as she walked up to Faith, who had happened to run into the display of watches behind glass. The glass had shattered and was everywhere, but the watched were unharmed. "If there's anything I can do" she began as she pulled Faith behind her. "Go back to Uncle Wesley," she whispered as she darted her head over at Wesley who was still staring in confusion at all of the car seats.

"It's fine, miss," the sales clerk said. "It must be hard being a single mother," she began sympathetically.

"What?" Cordelia asked in shock. "Oh, you thought she was my--No, no, it's not that. She's my sister's daughter," she explained through her red cheeks. "I'm just looking after her while my sister's on a business trip."

"Oh, where to?" the clerk asked curiously as she continued sweeping up the glass.

"Um, some small town in Italy," Cordelia lied. "But we really should get going. Sorry for all of this. If there's any fee, just bill my employer. He'd be happy to pay you," Cordelia said as she handed the woman Angel's card.

"You're employer?" the clerk asked doubtfully.

Cordelia nodded. "Money's a big issue with our family and he's really close to us like that," Cordelia said, mostly telling the truth as she walked over to Wesley.

"We picked out one," Wesley announced proudly as he carried it up to the cash register. Cordelia sighed as she pulled out her Visa card, handing it to the cashier once she got there.

"What'd Dead Boy say?" Xander asked as Anya walked back over to the table.

"It was Cordelia," Anya began with a slight indication of jealousy in her voice. "She wanted to steal you away," Anya added as she leaned back against Xander.

"Anya, Cordelia made it very clear that she does not want to steal me away. She wants nothing to do with me," Xander pointed out as he kissed her on the lips passionately.

Giles frowned, removing his glasses as to reduce the amount of things he had to see. Xander's use of his tongue was not something Giles was fond of seeing. "What did Cordelia say?" Giles asked, but he doubted Anya heard him. "Xander, please remove your tongue from my assistant's mouth long enough so she can answer my questions," he commanded sternly as he placed his glasses back on his face.

Xander did as he was told as Anya began answering the question. "Faith's four as well," she confirmed. "She also can't handle her that well."

"Understandable," Willow noted. "Faith was wild as a Slayer when she first came to Sunnydale, so naturally she would be a pretty wild child."

Giles turned to Willow. "Maybe this is just some spell gone array," he suggested. "I can't think of any Sunnydale residents off the top of my head with this amount of power, but perhaps you could check recent people who came to town. Hotels, motels, and what not."

Willow nodded as she pulled out her laptop and plugged it inside. "This will only take a minute," she said as she began searching and hacking.

"Should we send for Faith?" Tara asked. "I mean, there's more of us here than in Los Angeles."

Xander shook his head. "No, I think we're about even," he said with a nod. "Since Dawn will be in school and doing homework for a majority of the day, she doesn't count. Then it's five here to their four, so I think Faith can stay there."

"Why don't we wait to see how Angel can handle it before we make any decisions," Giles put in.

"Because it's not fair!" Xander argued. "He should have to endure the same pain we're going through."

"Guys?" Willow called as they began looking over at her.

"You find someone?" Tara and Giles asked at the same time.

The redheaded witch nodded as she read aloud from the screen. "Sunnydale Motor Inn. Most recent guest: Ethan Rayne."


	4. Chapter Three

Chapter Three

Disclaimer: The math problem I can solve and that is not as boring as Mrs. Thomas's class was...Emma=writing story. Joss Whedon=owns characters from story. Emma's story disclaimer=goodness.

"Angel!" Cordelia's voice called as she walked into the large and older decorated hotel. "Angel, we need you now!" she added in a rushed voice as Wesley entered, his left hand holding Faith's smaller right one.

"Wow!" the young girl exclaimed. "You guys didn't say you had the biggest palace!" she yelled excitedly as she squirmed free from Wesley's grip and ran up the stairs. "Are you a prince and a princess?" she asked as she ran up to the top of the stairs and began sliding down the banister with many giggles, a fearful Cordelia and Wesley watching her all the way.

Angel walked out from his office, a few bits of paperwork held in his right hand. "Calm down, Cordelia. You don't need to yell, I can hear you just fine." He looked over at his two associates as they caught the hyper active Faith, preventing her from possibly splitting her skull open upon hitting the hard tiled floor. "So she is four," he began.

"Very good on the keen observance," Cordelia muttered sarcastically as she rolled her eyes.

"Does Giles know?" Angel asked.

Cordelia nodded slightly. "Told Anya, presumed she told the rest of the Sunnydale Gang," she said as she struggled to keep Faith from breaking free and running up the stairs again.

"Told Sunnydale folks what?" Gunn asked as he came inside the hotel from the back door. "Hey, who's this little pumpkin?" he asked as he walked up to Faith.

Faith smiled proudly up at Gunn before announcing her name. "I'm Faith!" she announced proudly. "I'm four years old and I live in Boston! I like to eat chocolate ice cream and biscuits!"

"Um, ok?" Gunn began as he turned to Angel, Wesley, and Cordelia. "Any of you going to elaborate?"

Angel nodded as the four of them moved closer to his office. "It's some sort of curse or something. The same thing happened to Buffy," he explained. "This is Faith the Slayer, if she can remember that, which I highly doubt."

"But she's still a Slayer," Cordelia pointed out. "I could handle a normal four year old, and she is definitely stronger."

"And no one knows why all of a sudden our vampire slayers are little rugrats? Gunn asked curiously.

Wesley shook his head. "Giles has a pretty vast research source and he is coming up with nothing. I can check a few of our volumes here at the hotel and from my personal collection," he began as he mentally pictured all the books at his apartment.

"Doesn't sound like it'd be something prophetic," Angel put in. "Unless" he began before heading to his office, Cordelia, Wesley, and Gunn right behind him. He pushed against the office door, but found it was already open unlike the closed state he had left it. That could only mean that...

"Whee!" Faith said happily as she spun around in Angel's office chair and began looking through one of his open books. "This is a boring story! No pictures. I like pictures."

"Faith, give me the book," Angel commanded.

"NO!" Faith yelled as she clutched it closer to her body. "It's a book for grown-ups!"

"Aren't I a grown-up?" Angel asked irritably.

"NO!" Faith yelled again. "Grown-ups are boring and they have gray hairs."

Gunn forced himself to hold in his laughter. "So, I guess Angel will never grow up," he whispered to Cordelia.

"Guess not," the former cheerleader answered. She sighed heavily looking at Faith. "What are we going to do with her?" she asked with a sigh.

"Send her over to Sunnydale, hopefully," Wesley mumbled under his breath. He frowned as he walked over to the black office phone, which was beginning to ring.

Cordelia beat him to it. "Hyperion Hotel, home of Angel Inv--" she began.

"Cordy, cut the crap, it's Willow," came the exasperated reply from the witch on the other end of the conversation. "Listen, we have a pretty good idea of who caused the whole four-year-old thing," she began. "Put Angel on."

Cordelia rolled her eyes. "No need to get bitchy," she mumbled as she handed the phone over to Angel.

"I hope that wasn't a client," Angel told her as he took the phone. "Angel," he said as a way of introducing himself.

"No, just Willow," Cordelia told him. "And she deserved it. She was being rude."

Angel sighed. "Willow, on behalf of my associate, I apologize," he began before Willow cut him off.

"Angel, we have a pretty good idea on who's been causing this four-your-old chaos," Willow said with a heavy sigh. "I believe you know him. Tall, thin, answers to the name of Ethan Rayne."

Angel groaned. "Of course," he said, almost in a way of feeling bad for not figuring it out before. It was just like Ethan. Not that he had ever met him personally, but he had heard stories of what Ethan had done.

"Don't feel bad, none of us realized it until we checked recent people who checked into motels around Sunnydale," Willow began meekly, feeling incredibly stupid and angry with herself. "And we didn't even think to do that for a day or two."

Angel nodded. "Right," he replied as he looked over at Faith. The little girl had gotten into the pens on Angel's desk and was happily entertaining herself by drawing in Angel's book. "But about Faith"

"Can't handle her, can you?" Willow asked with a small laugh. She frowned, stopping herself. It was not a laughing matter. It was serious and some people just could not handle little children well. Especially people as old as Angel, as superficial as Cordelia, or as stuffy as Wesley. Not that she had any contact with Wesley since graduation day. And she barely had contact with Angel and Cordelia save for the few phone calls regarding Buffy and that one time when Cordelia had needed her help.

"Not at all. She's scribbling in my copy of Froiman's laws," Angel said with a frown. "Please, you have to help us!" he begged.

There was a long pause on the other end as Willow was talking to someone, presumably Xander or Giles but Angel could not swear to it. "She could come down here," she informed the vampire. "As long as someone comes with her who can truly help with the research, like Wesley."

"You want Wesley?" Angel asked dubiously.

"Yes," Willow told him. "No Wesley, no Faith."

Angel nodded. "We'll send them down first thing tomorrow," he promised before hanging up and turning to everyone else.

"What was that all about?" Cordelia asked with a frown as she crossed her tanned arms across her slender body.

"About what happened to Faith and Buffy," Angel answered with a sigh.

"They were turned into four year olds," Cordelia began.

"I meant as in who did it," Angel snapped. "Sorry," he apologized a moment later as he saw Cordelia's semi-hurt expression. "This whole thing has just gotten to me. I'm not made for this. I help the helpless, not babysit four-year-olds with super powers."

Cordelia's expression changed slightly as she looked up at Angel. "Who?" she asked innocently.

"Ethan Rayne."

Cordelia frowned slightly. She knew she had heard that name before. A definite Sunnydale bad guy, but she was unsure of which one that was. Sunnydale tended to have a lot of them.

Angel smiled slightly at Cordelia's lack of memory. "The guy who was responsible for turning everyone into their Halloween costumes, helped Giles summon that demon, and turned all the adults in Sunnydale back into teenagers with that candy."

"Right," Cordelia began with a look of disgust. "That guy was creepy and deserves to be killed or something."

Angel nodded. "I agree with you," he began. "And they said we could send Faith down tomorrow as long as Wesley came with her. So, I was thinking, Cordelia perhaps you could drive them down" Angel began.

"Why me?" Cordelia asked. "They want Wesley."

"Because you have the car that can hold the car seat in it," Angel replied flatly.

Cordelia sighed heavily as she began walking out of Angel's office. "Alright. I'll be here at eight in the morning and I'll drive whoever is here and ready."

"What are you two doing here?" Spike asked in disgust as he saw Xander and Anya standing in front of his crypt. He had stepped outside for a quick smoke, hoping to be alone or possibly catch a sight of Buffy in the cemetery, but he had not seen her lately.

"Begging for help," Anya pointed out as she leaned on Xander for support as she caught her breath.

"Buffy" Xander added weakly, smiling slightly as he knew mentioning the girl's name would immediately catch the vampire's attention.

Spike's face instantly turned to an expression of fear. "What--what about Buffy?" he asked with concern. "Is she hurt?" He gulped, the worst possibility of all coming to mind. "Is she dead?" he whispered.

Anya shook of the idea with a wave of her hand. "Nothing like that," she began. "She's four."

"She's for what?" Spike asked. "For slaying vampires? For killing demons?"

Anya shook her head once more. "No, she's four years old. Still the Slayer, but we can't possibly tell her that vampires are real. We need help patrolling and possibly getting hold of the man who did it to her."

Spike nodded seriously. "And that man would be?"

"Ethan," Xander announced plainly.

"The guy who turned Giles into a demon?" Spike asked curiously.

Anya and Xander both nodded. "So, patrolling?" Xander asked. "We have stakes. Are you going to help or what?"

Spike nodded finally. "I'm in," he stated. "But I better not become the next babysitter for her. You two look like hell."

Xander rolled his eyes as he tossed Spike a stake. "We saw a vamp or two by Weatherly Park," he pointed out as the three of them began walking.

"How is the little Buffy?" Spike asked curiously.

Anya rolled her brown eyes at the question. "Four years old, thinks she's a superhero, and she still has her Slayer strength."

"Has more energy than ever," Xander added exhaustedly.

"And you're all surprised at this?" Spike asked dubiously. "It's been longer since I've last seen a four year old, but that is how they are. It's like this unwritten law."

"You know this whole you helping us might go a little better with less talk from you," Xander pointed out.

"Whatever," Spike said as he rolled his eyes. "Let's just get to Weatherly and get this done with," he groaned.

At exactly eight o'clock the following morning, Cordelia pulled up onto Hyperion Avenue, stopping in front of the hotel. She stopped her car briefly before walking inside quickly. There were things to do that day, clients who would pay. Not that she would be around to assist those clients, but the faster Faith left, the faster Angel could get to work in peace to get those clients to come in.

"Angel?" she called out as she walked in the hotel, closing the large wooden door behind her. "Wesley? Faith?"

"Shh!" the little girl commanded. "We're playing hide and seek!"

Cordelia groaned slightly. "No, right now we have to go."

"Go where?" Faith demanded as she placed her hands squarely on her little hips. "I like living in the palace!"

"This isn't a pal--I mean, this isn't my palace," Cordelia began, relived that she had caught herself. She frowned slightly, biting her lip as she tried to think of a perfect lie. "This is the palace of an evil king. He's married to an evil witch who wants to eat little girls."

"EEK!" Faith screeched as she clung to Cordelia. "Get me out of here!" she begged.

"I will," Cordelia promised. "As soon as you find Wesley."

"Who's Wesley?" Faith asked with a frown.

Cordelia frowned once more as she tried to describe her co-worker in a way that Faith could understand. "He's a little taller than I am. He has brown hair and glasses."

"Oh, him!" Faith exclaimed. "I dunno where he is. We're playin' hide and seek. If I give up, then it's bad."

"But the witch is getting hungry and she's going to wake up soon," Cordelia warned.

"I GIVE UP! I GIVE UP!" Faith yelled as she saw Wesley and Angel approach her from their respective hiding places.

"That was also low," Wesley whispered to Cordelia as he grabbed Faith's car seat.

"I know," Cordelia replied back in a whisper. "But I had to think of some reason that would make her want to go to boring old Sunnydale."

Wesley nodded before turning to Angel. "So, I suppose we'll be off. We'll give you a call when we reach Sunnydale, in about an hour and a half or so unless there's traffic." He smiled before heading outside and beginning to install Faith's car seat in Cordelia's car.

"Probably not traffic," Cordelia noted. "It's Tuesday. Normally means extra Hellmouth-y energy, not a lot of traffic."

Angel nodded as he rolled his eyes at Cordelia's statement. "Ever so true," he pointed out. "Alright, I'll see you two when this is all taken care of."

Cordelia nodded as she grabbed Faith by the hand and began leading her out of the hotel. "Come on," she said as they closed the door.

"Where we going?" Faith demanded in a strong voice.

Cordelia smiled sweetly at the girl. "We're going to go catch up with a few old friends. Don't worry, there's going to be someone your age," she assured Faith.

"Will she be nice?"

Cordelia nodded. "I think you'll like her," she promised as she opened the door with the car seat inside. "Now get in and buckle up."

"POWER BARBIE AND I WANNA GO SAVE THE WORLD!" Buffy yelled excitedly. She looked curiously around the Magic Box for anyone who might be an evil villain. "You," she yelled as she approached Willow. "Put your hands up!" she commanded sternly.

Willow smiled, dutifully doing as she was told. "Am I under arrest?" she asked innocently.

"NO!" Buffy yelled. She stopped suddenly, holding the Barbie doll up to her ear. "What's that, Power Barbie?" she asked. She nodded her head up and down as Power Barbie "talked" to her. "I agree," she told the Barbie before turning to Willow. "You're the bad guy and you have to go to bad guy camp so you can be a badder bad guy 'cause now you are not very good at being a bad guy."

Willow nodded as if she was playing along before glancing over at Xander. "Have I been around her too much or did that all just make sense?"

Xander shook his head sadly at her. "Willow, don't listen to little Buffy," he pointed out as he closed the book he had been looking at.

"I bought it," Giles pointed out before frowning in confusion. "Perhaps I've been around her too much," he admitted before he walked back to the training room. "I'll be doing research in here," he said to anyone who was listening.

"Alright," Willow called to him before returning her attention to Buffy. "Where is bad guy camp?" she asked curiously.

"Over there," Buffy said with a smile as she pointed at the cash register.

"Anya's the leader of bad guy camp?" Willow asked, raising an eyebrow over at Xander's girlfriend who said nothing, only crossed her arms across her chest in protest.

Buffy shook her head at Willow. "No, silly!" she giggled. "The bad guy camp is over there. There is no leader."

"So I'm in bad guy camp?" Anya asked innocently before turning back to Xander. "I haven't been a demon for over two years now," she pointed out.

Xander stood up and walked behind Anya, rubbing her shoulders soothingly. "Honey, it's only the game of a four-year-old, not anything prophetic."

"EEK!" Buffy screeched at the sight of Xander. "Get out of bad guy camp big brother!" she screeched.

"I'm going, I'm going," Xander said as he walked out and glanced at his watch. "And now I have to get back to work. I'll come by on my lunch break," he promised as he leaned across the counter and kissed Anya lightly on the lips.

"Alright," Anya agreed as she watched him go. "Don't be late!" she called after him.

"I won't," he added as he walked out. At that exact moment, Cordelia and Wesley began walking in. "Hello to you both," he greeted before running out to his car.

"What do you want?" Anya asked. "Want to buy anything, perhaps a more expensive thing?" she suggested as she walked out from behind the counter.

"No," Wesley began as he stepped aside, revealing the young Faith.

"Where's the girl?" Faith pouted, looking up at Cordelia. "You promised!" she yelled.

Cordelia nodded as she looked over to Willow, mouthing 'Where's Buffy?'.

Willow pointed over a section of the bookshelves where Buffy was amusing herself by playing with Power Barbie. "Buffy, could you come here for a moment?" she asked politely as Buffy stood up and walked over to the witch.

"Yes?" she asked. "I'm not supposed to talk to you, you know. You belong in bad guy camp," she reminded Willow.

"I know, and I'm going," Willow promised. "But first, there's someone I want you to meet," she said as she motioned for Faith to come forward. After a little push from Cordelia, the little girl did come. "Buffy, this is Faith and she's going to be staying with us for awhile," Willow introduced.

"HI FAITH!" Buffy yelled excitedly. "I'm Super Buffy and this is my sidekick, Power Barbie," she said as she held up the tiny Mattel product.

Faith smiled happily, finding she liked the girl. "Can I be a superhero too?" she asked curiously.

Buffy shook her head. "No, there's only one superhero. You can be the sidekick, Power Faith."

"I WANNA BE A SUPERHERO!" Faith screeched.

Buffy shook her head. "But it doesn't work that way."

"Buffy" Willow began in a warning tone of voice as she moved a red lock of hair out of her face. "Let Faith be a superhero," she commanded.

"No thank you," Faith said angrily. "I wanna be the big villain who kills Super Buffy," she said.


	5. Chapter Four

Chapter Four

Disclaimer: "A vague disclaimer is nobody's friend." (--Willow Rosenberg. Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 4: Episode Seven: The Initiative.) But this is going to be vague. I own nothing and Joss owns everything.

Angel wrinkled his eyebrows in frustration as he stared at the computer screen in front of him. For the past half hour he had been searching to see if Ethan Rayne was in any motels, hotels, or anything. But he kept getting nothing.

As far as Angel knew about spells like the one Ethan must have performed, they had to be performed locally. Locally meaning that Ethan would have to be in Los Angeles somewhere for his spell to get to the jail at his desired subject, Faith.

The real question remained though. Once they found Ethan, how could they get him to reverse the effects and make sure he would not be back in Sunnydale again? He liked to do things like these, especially as it drew nearer to the Hellmouth's middle of spring apocalypse party.

"I got nothing!" he said in anger as he pushed away from his desk. "Nothing at all on the whereabouts of one Ethan Rayne."

"That's 'cause you're not looking in the right places," Gunn pointed out with a smile as he walked into Angel's office.

"And where should I be looking?" he asked, looking up at his African American colleague.

"Demon bars," Gunn replied plainly. "Something as big as this goes down and there's no talk? That ain't right and you know it."

"So you suggest going to these bars?" Angel asked. "Us?"

Gunn shrugged. "I'll go alone," he offered. "First Caritas, then maybe this bar at the other end of Norton, Sammie's I think it's called."

Angel nodded. "Alright, that will help," he said honestly.

"Not a problem," Gunn pointed out with a smile as he walked out of the office. "I'm out and don't know when I'll be back."

Angel nodded again as he went back to his computer. "There has to be something," he muttered as he began clicking on another hotel. As he scanned the webpage, a smile crept onto his face. "Ha, we're getting better business than these guys," he said with a laugh.

"Now surely there's some other game you two could play rather than Superhero," Cordelia began nervously as she glanced helplessly up at Willow and the shorter blond next to the redheaded witch.

"But we're not playing Superhero," Buffy pointed out clearly.

Faith nodded. "Yea, I'm the big villain. And I'm gonna kill Super Buffy," she said, determination filling up in her voice.

"Not if Power Barbie kills you first!" Buffy screeched.

Faith shook her youthful brunette head. "Sidekicks don't get to kill people. That's not how it works."

"It's not?" Willow asked curiously. "I've dusted vamps before," she muttered as Tara gave her a small smile. "And I've killed demons," she added to herself.

"But Power Barbie is more than a sidekick," Buffy argued back. "She can fly and she's going to kick your butt!"

"I don't think so," Faith said as she planted her arms firmly on her hips. "I'll kill you, and your little doll too," she said before giving an evil laugh.

"CHEATER!" Buffy accused strongly, pointing fingers at Faith. "Miss Tara, she's cheating!"

"I AM NOT CHEATING!" Faith hollered back as she glared at Buffy. "If anything, she's cheating. She has a sidekick, but I don't have a partner."

"You don't need a partner. You're the bad guy," Buffy said as she narrowed her eyebrows at the girl in front of her.

Cordelia sighed heavily as she watched the two of them. "Some things never change," she muttered as she walked back over to Wesley. "What are we going to do?" she asked.

Giles frowned as he gathered the remaining Scoobies together in front of the cash register by Anya's demand. "It looks good for business," she pointed out. "I'm helping you all meaning I can help anyone which would make them more willing to come inside."

Willow rolled her eyes before giving her full attention to Giles. "So now what?" she asked curiously.

"That's exactly what we don't know. We have had no luck tracking Ethan. Sunnydale Motor Inn claimed he left days ago."

"He's learned to do the damage and get out," Willow noted.

Giles nodded. "It looks that way."

"And we still have no reversal spell?" Cordelia asked innocently as she glanced over at the rising fight between the two young Slayers.

Giles nodded. "I'm afraid you're right," he told Cordelia.

"What are we going to do about them?" Anya asked. "If they keep this up, one of them is sure to kill the other."

Giles frowned. "I'm not sure what we should do about them."

"We could let them fight until they knock each other out cold," Anya suggested as everyone glanced at her as if she were insane. She was used to the look. It was the look Willow, Tara, Buffy, and Giles would give her when she made references to her nightly adventures with Xander. "Or we could do something else," she added.

"But what?" Wesley asked. "We have to watch the two of them, find a reversal spell, and find Ethan."

"And run the store," Anya put in. "Don't forget running the store."

"Of course," Giles said as he patted Anya's back.

Tara looked over at the still fighting Slayers. "Well, I could take them to the park o-or something," she suggested. "Let them blow off steam."

"By yourself?" Cordelia asked as she raised an eyebrow at Tara.

"Absolutely not," Wesley declared. "Cordelia will go as well."

"Woah, woah, woah," Cordelia exclaimed. "So not what I meant!"

Willow glared at the former cheerleader in front of her. "Cordy, it's not that we're trying to get rid of you, but Wesley and Giles are best at research, I'm best at tracking people, Anya's best at running the store," she pointed out as Anya beamed proudly at the mention of her name. "Besides," she added. "Buffy seems to like Tara the most while Faith prefers you."

"Actually Buffy likes Xander best," Anya pointed out. "Can't say I blame her," she added silently to herself.

"Anya, main point, please!" Willow scolded. She looked up at Giles. "Do you think that would work?"

Giles nodded, considering what Willow had mentioned. "I think it's pretty much our only option. Wesley and I will look for that spell," he said as the two former Watchers sat down at the table.

"I'll find Ethan," Willow promised as she grabbed a book of locator spells and began searching for the best one to use. If Ethan had gotten as smart as they might think, he might already be outside of California.

"We'll watch the Slayers," Tara added with a smile as she walked over. "Hey Super Buffy," she called. "Do you want to go to the park again?" she asked curiously.

"No, only my big brother can take me there!" Buffy pointed out strongly. "And you're a girl," she added.

"I never got to go to a park," Faith whined as she walked over to Cordelia. "Take me there!" she demanded as she looked up at Cordelia with begging eyes.

"Ok," Cordelia said as she grabbed her purse and took Faith's hand. "Let's go," she added before glaring at Willow for getting her stuck in this mess.

"YAY!" Faith screamed happily as she eagerly followed Cordelia out of the Magic Box.

Tara smiled as she knelt down to face Buffy on her left knee, placing her right hand on Buffy's left shoulder. "And where do you want to go?" she asked curiously.

Buffy smiled, pondering the question for a second. "Um, I wanna go to Disneyland!" she announced.

"Anywhere else?" Tara asked curiously, knowing that the trip to Disney alone would be bad enough. Plus, Faith would throw a fit when she found out that she did not get to go. And there was the small issue of money, as in they could not afford to take Buffy down there, especially after buying her nearly two hundred dollars worth of toys.

Buffy frowned, once again considering her options. "I wanna get ice cream," she declared a moment later. "Yummy chocolate ice cream in a cone with gummy bears and sprinkles on top."

Tara smiled. "Ok, you want to go now?" she asked.

"Before lunch?" Buffy asked curiously. "COOL!" she exclaimed as she excitedly ran to the door. "Come on, slow poke!" she begged.

"I'm coming, I'm coming," Tara said as she grabbed her purse and followed Buffy. As soon as she neared the door, Buffy began dragging Tara down Main Street in desperate search of the best ice cream place.

Willow breathed a huge sigh of relief once they had left. "Now for peace and quiet to do research," she noted as she began flipping through the spell book.

"Lorne, my man," Gunn announced as he walked into Caritas. "You gotta help us out here."

"You know I don't do the fighting and violence very well," Lorne began nervously as he continued stirring drinks.

Gunn chuckled as he pulled himself a seat at the bar. "Nothing like that. We just need to know if you've heard anything."

"We?" Lorne asked curiously as he looked around the empty bar. Empty, of course, expect for him and Gunn.

"Angel needs to know too, but it's kinda sunny and he couldn't make it."

Lorne smiled slightly. "What is it?" he asked.

"A man. Causes trouble and goes by the name of Ethan Rayne. Heard of him?"

Lorne looked up a moment as he tried to remember. "There was talk of him here the other night," he began. "My memory's a little fuzzy right now."

"Please try and remember," Gunn began.

Lorne nodded. "I didn't hear most of the conversation. I was out with the crowd most of that night.." The green skinned demon paused for a moment noting the look on Gunn's face. The look that plainly said he didn't care what Lorne was doing. He just cared about what Lorne knew regarding this Ethan character. "Right," Lorne said before continuing. "This demon said he heard about this guy who got rid of the Slayer problem. He was going to take a group of demons down to the Hellmouth to celebrate. That's all I know, I swear."

Gunn nodded. "That's cool. But what day was this?" he asked.

Lorne bit his upper lip as he thought. "Late Sunday night, possibly Monday morning," Lorne clarified. "Sea breeze?" he offered, holding up the glass he had been mixing.

Hours had passed and neither of the Slayers had returned. Xander had called in and said he would be there soon, right after he finished up a little work on the site. But Giles still had no luck on finding a good reversal spell. "Any luck?" Giles asked as he looked over at Willow and Wesley.

The younger former Watcher looked up at Giles. "Not really. I found a spell that could reverse it, but we would need a lot of things. It's a pretty intense spell and it would require something that ha belonged to the person who casted it."

"Any luck on finding Ethan?" Giles asked as he turned to face Willow.

Willow nodded as she studied the map in front of her. "According to the four spells I did so far, Ethan is in Sunnydale. He was in LA, according to Angel, but he left and is apparently back here somewhere."

"And he's staying with a bunch of demons," Cordelia announced as she walked into the Magic Box, the still energetic Faith rushing in ahead of her.

Anya gasped as she looked over at Cordelia. "You look horrible," she commented, and it was true. Dirt covered almost all parts of her clothes. Her once perfect hair was going in a hundred different directions. A small but deep cut was easily visible on her left cheek.

"What happened?" Wesley asked, deeply sounding concerned as he walked over to Cordelia, one hand going around her body for support.

"Demons," Cordelia said exhaustedly.

"Here, sit down," Giles began as he stood up from his chair and moved it back, giving Wesley enough room to guide Cordelia down. "Demons attacked you at the park?" he asked curiously. "I didn't figure them for showing themselves in broad daylight."

"Ethan's demons," Cordelia said to modify her previous statement. "They wanted Faith. Obviously, they didn't get her."

"You sure they were with Ethan?" Giles asked curiously as Wesley began tending to Cordelia.

Cordelia nodded wildly. "Ethan was with them. They didn't even attack me until I realized who they were working for."

"Oh," Wesley noted as he applied a fresh bandage to Cordelia's cheek. "Well, we're all glad you're alright."

Cordelia nodded. "He said he wanted Buffy. And there would be more demons to come. And with the magicks that man has, he'd probably find this store soon enough."

"Giles, we cannot allow that to happen!" Anya shouted.

"Don't worry, Anya, the money will be fine," Giles assured her in an absent minded tone of voice. He stood up and headed over for the door. "Cordelia, where were you when you were attacked?" he asked.

"On the way home from the park," Cordelia recalled. "Right outside Shady Hill," she added. "That might be where they're all staying. It looked big and empty enough."

"Where are you going?" Wesley asked as he looked over at Giles.

"To find an old friend," Giles said as he headed out of the shop. "Before he finds my little girl."

Twenty minutes had passed. Xander, Tara, and Buffy had all returned to the Magic Box safe and sound. Chocolate still covered a good chunk of the blond Slayer's mouth and it was obviously useless truing to remove it. Willow was still no closer to finding exactly where Ethan was, but Tara had been helping her ever since she had returned.

"Still nothing," Willow said with a frown as she slammed the fifth spell book shut. "They all say the exact same thing. Ethan Rayne is in Sunnydale, but where in Sunnydale is undetermined."

"Well, there is that one spell we could try," Tara suggested. "The one we tried when"

Willow nodded. "Do you think it'll work this time?" she asked curiously.

Tara nodded. "Positive," she said with a slight smile. "It'll work."

"But will it hurt the carpet?" Anya asked nervously. "Or anything else in here?"

Tara shook her head. "No, it won't. I promise."

"Then carry on already!" the ex-demon commanded as she began counting the total sales they had made that day.

The two witches nodded as they began gathering supplies from around the Magic Box. "We're not stealing," Willow quickly said, recalling the last time they had grabbed supplies from around the store without Giles's presence.

"I know," Anya said dryly without looking up. "I'll charge it out of Giles's paycheck or something."

Willow sighed, rolling her eyes as she and Tara finished gathering the materials. Once they were all gathered, the two began organizing things out on the research table. "Alright, Cordy and Xander, do you think you can watch the Slayers in the back while we do this?" Willow asked.

"He's not going back there alone with her!" Anya demanded.

"Nothing's going to happen," Xander assured his girlfriend. "There is nothing between me and Cordelia."

"Right," Cordelia agreed. "I have An--I mean, I'm not interested in Xander anymore. He's yours and I respect that," Cordelia began as she dragged Faith to the training room, Xander and Buffy right behind her.

"Cordelia?" Xander began once the four of them were settled in the back room and the door was closed. "Can I ask you something?" he asked curiously.

"Xander, when I said I wasn't interested in you, I meant it," Xander's ex girlfriend pointed out.

Xander nodded. "I know. I don't feel that way about you either. I am totally in love with Anya."

"So what is it you wanted to ask me?" Cordelia asked.

Xander sighed heavily as he pulled out something he had ripped out from the Zales catalog. He had been extremely careful to make sure that no one else had ever seen him looking through it. It had been close when Willow saw him, but he had quickly covered it up and he hoped that the witch did not suspect anything.

Xander began nervously unfolding the piece of paper before he handed it to Cordelia and pointed to the ring on the top left. "What do you think?" he asked.

"Well," Cordelia began, eyeing it enviously. "It's very gorgeousÉThe perfect engagement--Oh my god you're going to propose!" she exclaimed.

"SHH!" Xander quickly said as he covered Cordelia's mouth with his hand. "I don't want anyone to know yet. Not with this four year old situation and the Glory thing. There's just too much going on." He stopped, bringing himself together. "So you think she'll like it?" he asked curiously.

"Xander," Cordelia began honestly, "I would be willing to marry you if you gave me that," she pointed out with a small smile.

"So that's a 'yes'?" Xander asked.

Cordelia nodded. "She'll love it."

"This spell doesn't make any sense," Willow began as she studied the map of Sunnydale in front of her and Tara. Any person who had access to the darker arts was red. They had specifically altered the spell slightly so that Ethan would be a slight shade darker than the others.

"It doesn't?" Anya asked. "So you wasted all the store's basil for nothing?"

Tara shook her head. "No, we know where Ethan is."

"You do?" Wesley asked. "Where?"

Willow frowned. "That's where it doesn't make sense." She swallowed hard before continuing. "Ethan's here," she noted.

"Yes," Giles announced exhaustedly as he dragged the unconscious body of Ethan Rayne inside the Magic Box.


	6. Chapter Five

Chapter Five

Disclaimer: Dear Mr. Joss Whedon, if I give you credit for using all your characters, places, mythology etc. will you not sure me?

"Giles, what did you do?" Willow asked in shock as the Watcher dragged his unconscious former friend into the shop.

"Found Ethan," Giles announced as he plopped Ethan to the ground. "And as soon as he regains consciousness, he's going to reverse the spell he put on Buffy and Faith."

Anya frowned. "What makes you so sure he'd do that?"

"Because that way his demons won't kill him," Giles answered as he began dragging Ethan further into the store.

"This is boring," Faith announced angrily as she folded her arms across her chest. "There's nothing to do here."

"We could play Super Buffy and Bad Guy!" Buffy suggested eagerly.

"We could play Tackle with those two," Faith added, tilting her head over at Cordelia and Xander. The two Slayers exchanged a mischievous look before walking over to the former couple.

Cordelia's eyes widened in fear. "They still have Slayer strength?" she asked fearfully as she began moving closer to the door.

Xander swallowed hard before nodding slightly in reply. "And not a bit less."

"What are we going to do?" Cordelia asked. "Screw it," she added a moment later. "I don't care if she's not done her spell out there, we are in danger." Cordelia sighed, quickly opening the door and escaping.

Xander shrugged before instantly following.

"What are you doing?" Willow asked as she turned her head slightly.

"This isn't some sort of dating game between the two of you, is it?" Anya asked bitterly.

"I'm totally over him," Cordelia pointed out for the millionth time. "But we were getting attacked by the psycho slayers."

The Magic Box door opened once again as the platinum blonde vampire known as Spike made his entrance known to the various Scoobies within the room. "We've got trouble," he announced in a rushed tone of voice.

Willow raised an eyebrow over at Spike. "What kind of trouble?" she asked. "Because I'm thinking that the two four year olds are more important," she said as she looked back at Faith and Buffy. "No Faith, put down the sword!" she yelled before rushing back to the young brunette.

"But I like it," the little girl pouted as she held tighter to the weapon.

Buffy giggled as Willow tried to coax Faith into giving her the sword. She sighed, wishing for a brief moment that she could be the one with the sword but then shrugging it off as she glanced over at Spike. "Who are you?" she asked as her hazel eyes narrowed and she placed her hands on her hips.

"I'm Spike," the vampire said in a way of introducing himself with a sigh. "Are you Buffy?" he asked curiously as he knelt over to inspect the young girl more carefully.

The blond Slayer nodded. "Hey, how'd you know my name?" she asked angrily a minute later. She shrugged it off. "It's ok. I'd rather be with you than my big brother over there," she added as she pointed at Xander.

Xander looked slightly offended for a moment before he tried to shrug it off and walked over to Anya. "You'd prefer me, right?" he asked as he wrapped an arm around her.

Anya smiled up at her boyfriend and responded by kissing him on the lips.

"Hey Faith!" Buffy began excitedly as she walked back over the brunette after Willow had taken the sword back. "Can I show you something?" she asked as she extended her hand out to Faith.

The young girl looked up for a moment as she considered the idea. "Ok," she began as she took Buffy's hand and the two of them began walking over to the display of pendants Buffy had been admiring before Faith came to Sunnydale.

"Isn't they pretty?" Buffy asked as began admiring the green pendant she had not been able to buy yet. "See, I want that one," she announced as she pointed to it.

Anya's eyes widened with a little bit of fear as she clung to Xander, hoping that neither Slayer would try and get behind the counter again.

"Don't worry, I'll pay three times as much for all of those before I let them hurt you," Xander promised as he began rubbing Anya's back soothingly.

"But I think this one is prettier," Faith told Buffy as she pointed at one of the dark blue ones.

Buffy smiled. "I want them all!" she announced.

"So take them," Faith suggested as she picked the dark blue one up and started to put it into her back pocket.

Buffy frowned. "But that's stealing and it's naughty. My mommy told me that when I took that candy bar from the store."

"So?" Faith asked. "Your mommy's not here. This is easy. Want," she began as she looked over at one of the red pendants she liked. "Take," she continued as she removed it from the display. "Have," she finished, tucking it back into her pocket along with the other one.

"Um, Giles, the Slayers are stealing our pendant merchandise!" Anya pointed out as Buffy began trying out Faith's new method of things with the green pendant. "And if you people have a slight bit of sanity in you, you're not going to stop them, but rather pay for them. So far, between the two of them, they have taken four of the cheap ones and three of the more expensive ones."

Giles sighed, rolling his eyes. "Anya, when we reverse the spell they will give them back," he promised before returning his energy on waking Ethan.

"What if he won't reverse them?" she asked.

"Then you can take it from my pay," he mumbled. "I promise. But none of that will happen if I can't wake Ethan."

"Um, if I may," Willow began. "But I can get him to wake up and be very eager to undo the spell," she began as she looked over at the Slayers. "That is, if you don't mind," she added.

"I'll do anything," the former Watcher said effortlessly as he backed away from Ethan and moved back towards Willow. "What is it exactly you had in mind?" he asked curiously.

A dark smile crossed the redhead's lips as she gestured over at the two Slayers, who were busily applying make-up all over their faces. She was unsure of whose make-up exactly it was, but it seemed like colors Cordelia would use. "We send them to attack our Ethan Rayne," she began.

"What makes you so sure they'd do that?" Giles asked. "According to Buffy, you belong in Bad Guy Camp, so she won't listen to anything you say."

"Oh, she'll listen to this," Willow began, her voice filled with confidence as she walked over towards the Slayers. "Buffy, Faith," she whispered as she knelt down to her knees to be closer in height to the four year olds.

"What?" Faith asked angrily as she folded her hands across her chest. "We're not supposed to talk to you. You're the en-e-my."

Buffy nodded enthusiastically at Faith's comment. "You can't be here," she told Willow.

Willow sighed. "I'll leave, but I just wanted to let you know that the sleeping guy over there, um, took all the chocolate ice cream from the store!" she finished nervously. "What do you say to that?" she asked as she stood up.

Buffy looked over at Faith and the two of them exchanged the same angered look. "Tackle!" they both yelled happily as they ran over and pounced on Ethan, pulling at his hair and smacking the chaos worshipper's back.

"Amusing, isn't it?" Wesley asked as he looked over to Giles.

The elder Watcher gave a few laughs as he looked on, his eyes focused solely on Ethan and the Slayers. "I almost feel sorry for him," he whispered back. "Almost."

"Ow, ow," Ethan yelled as he regained consciousness. "What the bloody hell is going on here?" he asked as he struggled to free himself from the wrath of the four year olds. "Ah, Ripper, perhaps you can make it stop," he began as he saw Giles standing there.

Giles shrugged. "Perhaps I could," he began. "But I really don't want to," he added as he pulled up a seat for himself next to Cordelia.

"I'm begging you!" Ethan yelled. "I can't take any more of it!" he yelled as he tried to get Faith off of his back but found it impossible.

"Will you reverse the spell you put on them?" Giles asked.

"Yes, I swear!" Ethan yelled. "Anything, just get them to stop!"

Cordelia shook her head. "I'm not sure. He doesn't look trustworthy."

"I swear on my life!" Ethan amended.

Willow sighed as she moved closer to Giles's former friend, picking Faith off easily. "The ice cream's back," she whispered to Buffy.

"Ok," Buffy said as Willow placed Faith down next to Buffy. "Hey Faith, wanna play Superhero?" she asked. "You can be a hero too. We'll be the only two superheroes in the world!"

Faith smiled. "Ok! Let's play Hero Tag!" she suggested happily as she touched Buffy's arm lightly. "You're it!" she yelled as she began running away.

Buffy smiled as she began chasing Faith throughout the shop.

"Ok," Xander began. "We kept our end of the bargain, now it's your turn," he said to Ethan.

Ethan nodded as he climbed up onto the table and began chanting something that would turn the Slayers back to normal.

Faith and Buffy stopped in their tracks as a brilliant light engulfed the two of them. "Careful, the light's powerful," Ethan warned as he and the rest of the Scoobies shielded their eyes against it. The light disappeared and the two Slayers collapsed to the ground, reinstated in their proper twenty year old bodies, but with all the make-up and chocolate stains that covered their four year old selves.

"Um, Buffy? Faith?" Wesley began as he walked over towards them.

The brunette awoke with a yawn and began stretching her arms out in front of her. "Woah, this definitely is not jail," she began as she rose to her feet. "Hey B," she began as she saw Buffy's hazel eyes fluttering open.

"What's going on?" Buffy asked as she rubbed her eyes and stood up, using Faith for a bit of support until she reached her feet. Her eyes widened in horror as she saw Ethan Rayne perched on top of the table. "What's he doing here?" she asked.

"He was reversing a spell," Giles began.

"What kind of spell?" Faith asked.

"You two were little tiny four year old bints," Spike informed them with a sigh. "He reversed the spell after you attacked him."

"Oh," Buffy began as she brought her hand up to her face, frowning as she felt things there that definitely were not skin but something covering it. "What's on my face?" she asked hesitantly, not sure if she truly wanted to know the answer. "And where's Dawn?"

"Mostly make-up and chocolate," Anya answered as she tosses a small box of tissues at Buffy. "Faith will need those two," she added with a slight smile. "And Dawn's at Janice's once more."

Buffy nodded, relived that her sister was off in a relatively safe place. In Sunnydale, there are no truly safe places, but one can come close with the comforts of a house of a person who knows nothing about Sunnydale's true history. "Is there anything else I did when I was four? Any pain? Anything annoying?" she asked as she walked closer towards the main part of the store.

"Back pockets of your jeans," Anya began.

"What about them?" Buffy asked, sounding confused.

"You and Faith both stole the shop's entire selection of pendants. Pendants that are sitting in the back pockets of your jeans," Anya explained dutifully.

Faith and Buffy nodded as they walked over to the counter and began emptying their pockets, placing the merchandise on the counter. "Anything else?"

Cordelia shrugged as she stood up. "Well, we had to buy lots of things for you," she pointed out. "Something I'm sure Ethan will reimburse us for," she added as she turned and faced Ethan.

"I-I will?" Ethan asked.

Giles nodded. "You will," he declared strongly.

Ethan sighed. "Will you take checks?" he asked finally as he pulled the checkbook out of his pocket.

Willow, Tara, and Cordelia nodded as they began pulling the various receipts from Buffy and Faith related things and handed them to Ethan.

Ethan rolled his eyes as took the receipts and sat back down at the table to begin writing out the various checks. "Bugger," he mumbled.

"Crap," Cordelia muttered as she sensed a vision coming on. Within the instant, both of her hands flung up to her head as she began moving back and forth, both Wesley and Giles rushing to steady her.

"What's going on with her?" Anya asked worriedly.

"Visions," Wesley explained as Cordelia stopped. He let out a short sigh of relief as he wrapped an arm around her body. "How are you?" he asked. "What'd you see?"

"Ethan's demons attacking someone outside some place on Main, I think it was the Espresso Pump but I wouldn't swear to it," she began. "And I'm just going to the bathroom for a moment," she began as she reached for her purse, hoping that the small prescription bottle of Seltrex was still in there and hidden from sight.

"Right," Giles began. "It's right back there," he said as he pointed to the bathroom door.

Buffy sighed after removing as much of the make-up as she could. "Alright," she began as she turned to Faith. "Now that we're us again, I suppose we should go and kill these demons. You in?" she asked.

Faith nodded. "Hell yea. It's been a while since I've killed something."

"Right," Buffy said as she reached for some weapons, handing a few to Faith. "Anyone else coming?"

One by one, the Scoobies started arming themselves with weapons, save for Giles and Wesley. Giles wanted to stay behind and watch over Ethan while Wesley was waiting for Cordelia.

"Let's kick demon ass," Faith declared as she walked out of the shop, the others following close behind.


End file.
